California Supreme Court Says Homosexual Rights Trump Christian Rights
The California courts are at it again. The same California Supreme Court that created a “right” to homosexual “marriage” earlier this year has now ruled that the state may force healthcare professionals to provide services to homosexuals regardless of the whether or not providing those services violates the healthcare professional’s religious beliefs.
California’s highest court was unanimous in its decision on Monday that Christian doctors may not refuse to perform artificial insemination for homosexual patients. (See California court says no religious exemption for doctors).
Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) had this to say concerning the ruling.
“This is a clear violation of the fundamental rights of individuals to live and practice their faith. Forcing doctors to have to choose between being a doctor and being a Christian in the State of California is an outrageous violation of the fundamental rights of every American to be able to practice their faith and not to have to leave their occupation because of it.”
The case stemmed from a lesbian who sued two Christian fertility doctors who would not artificially inseminate her because, as they told her at the time, their beliefs prevented them from doing so. The court ruled that the doctors have neither a free-speech right nor a religious exemption from the state’s law, which “imposes on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations.”
What you probably won’t hear in the mainstream media is the fact that the doctors actually provided the lesbian woman with fertility drugs and instructed her how to inseminate herself at home. They also referred her to another doctor who would perform the elective treatment.
This wasn’t a life saving type of situation. The doctors didn’t refuse to help someone in dire need of medical assistance. They simply and respectfully opted not to provide an elective treatment that they believe to be morally wrong. One might compare their refusal to a plastic surgeon who refuses to give breast implants to a fifteen-year-old on the grounds that she’s too young and not mature enough. Many doctors do such procedures, but many do not.
Attorney Brad Dacus agrees:
“This is not about denying people services. This is, instead, about the ‘thought police’ attempting to censor Christian beliefs and Christian perspectives that don’t agree with homosexuality. We’re talking…about individuals being able to force doctors or other professionals to violate their faith in order to keep their job.”
In my opinion this ruling clearly violates an individuals rights to freedom of religion. The court simply cannot force someone to do something that violates their religious beliefs if it does not endanger another person.
This verdict opens up the Pandora’s Box that I alluded to in another post when I spoke about homosexual marriage. The court’s ruling is so broad that it will apply to almost every profession in the state. That means that Christian professionals and service providers could be forced to provide services to homosexuals that support their lifestyle and violate the Christian’s religious beliefs.
For example, lawyers could be forced to execute documents for homosexuals wanting to adopt children or a Christian who owns a wedding service could be forced to conduct wedding services and wedding preparations for lesbian or homosexual couples under threat of legal action or lawsuits.
This sort of thing would virtually shut down many Christian businesses who simply could not compromise their religious convictions in some of these regards. The ruling could also lead to the sort of thing I spoke about previously where speaking against homosexuality actually becomes a hate crime and Christians are virtually silenced.
This is an outlandish and ridiculous ruling that should be overturned immediately.
